Looking forward to the setting of 2022-26 Term of Council Priorities, CAFES has presented a set of recommendations for setting term of council priorities. The document is the result of several months of work by a team more than a dozen strong, and was consulted in the CAFES network in fall 2022. It includes nine chapters on a range of themes from governance to protection of ecosystems.
Trees and Greenspaces are one of CAFES’ main action areas for our advocacy work, policy analysis and project implementation.
With the ultimate goal of creating a greener and healthier City of Ottawa, our Trees and Greenspace work is centred upon:
City of Ottawa Trees and Greenspace Policies
CAFES closely monitors municipal programs and policies pertaining to forestry and greenspace management.
The City currently has a number of tree planting programs, which include:
Key policies include the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP), which outlines the City’s tree priorities and strategic approach. Another important policy document is the Tree Protection By-Law, which ensures that trees with 30+ cm trunk diameter cannot be cut without a permit. The by-law also includes requirements for how trees are to be protected during construction.
Another relevant policy is Ottawa’s Official Plan, which identifies the goal of achieving 40% tree canopy cover across the National Capital Region. We monitor policy implementation and bring community perspectives on the development and improvement of these policies.
Our Advocacy Areas
Tree equity
One of our current top advocacy asks is for the City Forestry Department to take a stronger equity approach by applying the 40% canopy cover target to each neighbourhood in Ottawa. Many of Ottawa’s low-income neighbourhoods are tree deserts, with a disproportionate amount of ‘grey’ infrastructure and paved surfaces that cause heat islands. Having a plentiful canopy in these equity-deserving neighbourhoods will increase overall wellness, provide shade and cooling, enhance walkability, mitigate heat, reduce energy costs of buildings, and help manage stormwater retention and attenuation.
Trees and zoning
Increasing tree canopy in these areas involves more than just tree planting - it will necessitate strong cohesion between City policies, such as the Comprehensive Zoning By-law), to ensure that green permeable space exists for trees to be planted, especially in the face of increasing urban intensification. It also involves being strategic with City Forestry’s tree planting initiatives, including selecting native species that will thrive to maturity despite harsh urban environments, and ensuring trees are planted in the proper soil volumes. Learn more about these issues by reading our Trees and Zoning position paper.
Trees and climate resilience
Connecting trees and greenspaces with climate resilience is another one of our major focus areas. As climate change will continue to progress over the next several years, we will see major increases in heat as well as an increase in heavy rain, wind and storms, leading to overland flooding and sewer backups. Trees and permeable green spaces are one of the most effective methods to mitigate both heat and flooding, and we want to see City policy better integrate trees and green infrastructure into Ottawa’s climate action strategies.
Check out our post and public delegation on Stormwater Tree Trenches to learn more about this interesting and cost-effective type of green stormwater infrastructure.
We also help members take direct action to protect and plant trees by directing them to relevant people and resources. For resources on trees and our urban forest, including our Ottawa Urban Tree Manual, check out our Resources page (eventually replace with Toolkit)
Recent Victories
In June 2024, City Forestry Services proposed two major changes to their tree planting programs:
Pro-active planting on the Right of Way is a huge victory for CAFES and something we have been advocating extensively for many years. This new program will involve automatic replacing of dead or dying trees that were previously planted from the Trees in Trust program, and identifying gaps and planting new trees in these spaces.
The newly proposed Private Land Tree Planting Program, wherein the city plans to distribute 1250 free trees to residents, is exciting news! CAFES has been organizing free tree give-aways for a number of years to demonstrate the impotence of tree planting on private property. See CAFES’ public delegation in support of these programs.
CAFES and Foret Capitale Forest Trees and Greenspace Caucus
CAFES and Foret Capitale Forest (FCF) collaborate to facilitate regular Trees and Greenspace Caucus meetings. These virtual caucuses are typically held every few months, and aim to unite community members who are either active in green initiatives in the City or are interested in learning more. The purpose of the caucus is to share information and deliberate on current issues pertaining to trees, parks, invasive species, gardening, pollinators and more. The caucus is open to all - for more information and to check out upcoming dates, visit this link here.
Projects
Check out the links below to see some of the trees and greenspace projects we have been up to in recent years:
See us in action!
For more information on Trees and Greenspaces, or if you want to get involved with some of the work we are doing, please contact info@cafesottawa.ca.
Climate is a very important theme for many members of CAFES and the City of Ottawa declared a climate emergency in 2019. Point people on climate are Angela Keller-Herzog, Lauren Touchant, Mary Hegan and Joan Freeman; you can reach them at climate@cafesottawa.ca . We also periodically convene meetings of the CAFES climate caucus.
CAFES monitors the community and corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the City of Ottawa. After several years of advocacy led by CAFES, the City now publishes annual reports. CAFES seeks to hold the City accountable for staying on track to meet our targets, which are found in the Climate Change Master Plan.
High priority issues include ensuring that Ottawa’s climate action plan and its 20 sectoral projects are funded and implemented (see Energy Evolution: Ottawa’s Community Energy Transition Strategy). CAFES is also advocating that our climate targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050 be included in Ottawa’s new Official Plan, which is our plan for how we are going to build our city.
The main sectors emitting greenhouse gases in Ottawa are buildings and transportation. Motivated by our concern about the climate crisis, CAFES also follows issues around healthy and active transportation, and net-carbon zero and energy efficiency in buildings. We are keen to support and help share information about climate initiatives at neighbourhood levels.
CAFES is also tracking the adaptation side of climate change, including regulatory issues. In June 2020 the City of Ottawa, in collaboration with the National Capital Commission and the City of Gatineau published a set of climate projections for our region (see Climate Projections for the NCR) and a snap shot of weather to come. We await also a vulnerability report and then a climate resiliency strategy from the City.
If you are interested in getting involved contact us at climate@cafesottawa.ca.
The CAFES The point-person on water is Mary Hegan and you can reach her at info@cafesottawa.ca. Water is life and Ottawa is the city where three rivers meet. From stormwater protection to flooding, which we expect more often with a variable climate, to microplastics in our water, to the protection of wetlands, to protecting the Ottawa River from nuclear waste risks, water issues are numerous, important and all around us.
CAFES is a member of the City of Ottawa external stakeholder consultation group on stormwater management and will support the City in the pilot and roll out of the Rain Ready Program in 2021. Details to come.
The CAFES point-person for circular economy and waste reduction is Kate Reekie and you can reach her at circularity@cafesottawa.ca. CAFES engages in initiatives that aim to reduce waste and support Ottawa's transitioning to a more circular local economy.
Interested CAFES members can collaborate on local initiatives that seek to: disrupt the culture of overconsumption; promote an equitable sharing economy; support local businesses that upcycle used goods; redistribute excess food and reduce food waste; and wherever possible promote reuse models over recycling.
CAFES also provides a forum whereby community associations can work together as one voice to influence City of Ottawa policy and practice related to circularity and waste management. For example, community associations have collaborated through CAFES to seek a local ban on plastic grocery bags, advocate against the allowance of plastic bags in the City’s organic waste stream, and improve waste management practices at Lansdowne Park. We are currently represented in the Stakeholder Sounding Board for the development of the City’s Solid Waste Master Plan.
If you are interested in getting involved or want to pitch an idea for CAFES action in this area, please contact Kate at circularity@cafesottawa.ca.
Here is the most recent update from Kate:
On July 22 the City’s Solid Waste Master Plan (SWMP) Stakeholder Sounding Board (SSB) met for the first time since September last year. The SSB is a public advisory group, which includes representatives of CAFES and Waste Watch Ottawa, which was established by the City to gather and facilitate stakeholder input to the waste planning process.
Read MoreCAFES has been contributing to the new Official Plan process as a part of the People’s Official Plan (POP), an alliance of well-established civil society organizations in Ottawa. We made major technical contributions to the consultation input in March, 2021. While we support the vision for a livable, healthy, resilient city of 15-minute neighbourhoods and the high-level policy directions that guided the work on the draft new Official Plan, we felt that the draft still failed to get us to where we need to go. Our concern was that while the vision is good, it may still be mirage, and large parts of the draft Official Plan supported business-as-usual practice: spot rezoning fights in the inner-urban areas and sprawling tract housing in the outer-urban reaches. For more information, check out POP’s April, 2021 Key Issues document. POP members attended and made delegations at countless City committee meetings, such as the Standing Committee on Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management. In August, 2021, POP issued a Press Release titled “People’s Official Plan coalition responds to the revised Official Plan: a ‘City of Canyons and Towers’ or a ‘City of Neighbourhoods’”, stating that the latest draft reinforces the City’s emphasis on a so-called ‘hubs and corridors’ approach, with a policy direction to enhance density along transportation corridors and transit hubs. It emphasizes that the City’s Official Plan continues to ignore opportunities to enhance neighbourhood-level ‘gentle density’, which could enhance walkability, accelerate progress on climate change, and address social challenges such as affordability and access to local food. In September, 2021, POP released eight one-page responses to the final draft Official Plan under the following themes: 1) Walkable city, 2) Housing equity, 3) Greenspace, 4) Inclusivity, 5) Finance, 6) Accountability, 7) Climate, and 8) Food security. On October 5th, 2021, POP released a Press Release titled “Will this Official Plan Do the Job?” with accompanying draft motions. On October 25th, 2021, POP issued a Press Release titled “Will the New Official Plan Do the Job?”, stating that the current plan falls short of meeting its own ambition and is an inconsistent policy document. It proposes solutions to these concerns.
On October 27th, 2021, Ottawa City Council approved a new Official Plan. It now comes to the Ministry for review and final approval. POP seeks to summarize some of the concerns regarding this Official Plan raised city-wide by resident associations and community-based groups in a letter to the Ministry. POP wants to ensure that the Minister’s office hears these perspectives and solutions, and not only views the City and some segments of the development industry. The strategic directions described in the Council-approved Official Plan have our strong support. They focus on intensification, sustainable transportation, 15-minute neighbourhoods, climate and health resiliency, and economic sustainability, and do an admirable job of defining the desired destination. There remains, however, a fundamental disconnect between the policy ends and the policy means included in the Official Plan.
CAFES, along with POP, will continue to actively participate in the consultation processes for the Infrastructure Master Plan, Urban Forest and Greenspace Master Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and the new Zoning Bylaw. The key question of whether we are building a healthy and livable city will be answered by the approved new Official Plan and following Master Plans.
The CAFES point person for sustainable and urban development is Joan Freeman. You can reach her at urbandevelopment@cafesottawa.ca.
If you want to know what is going on or what are the real priorities, follow the money! Except in election years, the budget cycle is an annual event. Also in our advocacy portfolio is to encourage the City of Ottawa to divest our Endowment Fund from fossil fuels - Lenore Fahrig is our point person on that. Budget watchers are Angela Keller-Herzog, Barbara Ramsay and Dinah Robinson; you can reach them at info@cafesottawa.ca.
The City of Ottawa budget and budget process is not entirely transparent to the public. Even rookie councillors have difficulty understanding what is really going on between the deep pocket reserves, operational budget, the capital budget, and long range financial plans.
A leading concern is that the City’s climate action has until now been funded out of surplus dividend funds from Hydro Ottawa. Aside from some resources for staffing and consultants the City of Ottawa has contributed no on-budget funds to the climate fight. With COVID-19 hitting Ottawa Hydro like so many businesses, it is unlikely that there will be surplus dividend funds in operating year 2020. We will find out in spring 2021.
In the meantime much more light is being shone on the private sector in terms of financial disclosures of climate risks, as well as environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria. A March 2021 report shows that RBC is the premier fossil fuel lender in Canada and a public campaign asks you to ask your banker some questions.
The CAFES point person on sustainable procurement is John Humphries and you can reach him at procurement@cafesottawa. The City of Ottawa’s Supply Services administers purchasing activities averaging more than one billion dollars annually. The procurement process is affected by many policies and directives and the resulting procurements impact on how effectively the City meets its plans and targets.
The focus of this CAFES group is to assess how the City applies a climate lens to its procurements and recommend any changes that could help the City more effectively achieve the targets in its Climate Change Master Plan. The CAFES group has initiated communications with Supply Services officials and has offered to be an external stakeholder body to explore new ideas regarding climate change and procurement in a critical but also supportive way.
The group plans to review the draft version of Supply Services’ updated Sustainable Purchasing Guideline, explore best practices for procurement in other municipalities and discuss procurements for end-of-life cycle replacements and how that’s linked to the City’s climate change targets.
If you are interested in learning more, or wish to volunteer, please contact procurement@cafesottawa.ca.
